“Life is short…make haste to be kind”

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Others can shine a light that helps you see, but you are still doing the seeing….these qualities are within you

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“Wishing you…………..”

 

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I received this kind wish a few years ago…
A wish for each and every one of us…

wishing for an increasing balance and integration of ….
relaxation and productivity

a sky-wide, light, bright and graceful dance of…
happiness and contentment

and the increasing developing of….
a peaceful, steady and stable mind…

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And so I continue to pass this wish along….
A lovely wish…
a wonderful aspiration and daily intention….
may we nourish and develop these qualities
each and every day of our lives….

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Encouraging you to use to its fullest, this precious life we have been given

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Simply offer….compassion, love and an abundance of positive qualities

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Throughout each day,
simply offer….
“to have good motivation and intention in whatever we do”

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simply offer

nurturing…offering…sharing
The Four Immeasurables:
loving kindness, compassion, rejoicing in positives, equanimity

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simply offer

nurturing, offering, sharing
The Six Perfections:
generosity, patience, ethical choices, joyful effort, concentration, wisdom

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Throughout each and every day…
living with positive aspirations and intentions,
as much and as often as we’re able

simply offer…..
nurturing and sharing
such an abundance of positive qualities
offering…to ourselves
offering…to each other

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Compassion…faith in and living with……

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July 6…
the 80th birthday of HH DalaiLama, a true inspiration

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“The Dalai Lama is turning 80 years old on July 6, but he doesn’t want any gifts. Instead, your social media presence is the present.

In honor of his milestone birthday, His Holiness is asking people to share photos, videos and quotes depicting people simply treating one another kindly, along with the hashtag #withcompassion on social accounts.”  (from Huffington Post )

 

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The blossoming of…. “The Six Perfections”….

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The blossoming of… “The Six Perfections”

Generosity
Patience
Ethical Choices
Joyful Effort
Concentration
Wisdom

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And…
“The Immeasurables”
Living with…
Loving kindness
Compassion
Empathetic Joy
Equanimity

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May there be abundant blossoming of….positive qualities…

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Generating a really happy and joyful mind…..

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“Bodhichitta Mind”…wish for, want, take responsibility, request blessings

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Some steps for aspiring and working toward any goal….
no matter what that goal might be

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“Bodhichitta Mind”
the specific wish to work for the benefit for ALL beings,
for ALL beings to have happiness and the causes of happiness,
for ALL beings to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering

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A wonderful wish and aspiration!
Wishing for…
Wanting…
Take responsibility to work for the benefit of…
Requesting blessings to be able to do that…

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Steps for working toward any goals…
Bodhichitta Mind included

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To really use to its fullest…this precious life we have been given….

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Others can shine a light that helps you see, but you are still doing the seeing….these qualities are within you

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Sometimes all you can do is be strong, compassionate and patient

 

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Rejoice in what we were able to complete or achieve

 

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Originally posted, 1/14/12: These ideas were written in the comments section of the 1/2/12  post: “Set a positive intention…”

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To have good motivation or intention in whatever we do…

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Applying patience, love, kindness and wisdom into our daily lives

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Ahhhhhh….
yes, indeed…..
incorporating
patience….love…..kindness…
into our daily practice,
as we’re nurturing and developing deeper wisdom….

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“Friday Wishes”…to develop an appreciation of this wonderful life we have…. warmth, love and appreciation

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One of my very favorite “cards”…one  of the first I ever “made”
with an inspiring and encouraging message

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“A Friday Wish” for us all…
several years ago,  I received this lovely wish…
passing along this encouraging wish to friends, family, loved ones, all beings,
nurturing an appreciation of this wonderful life that we have,
so many opportunities,
so much happiness and generosity,
overflowing with warmth, love and appreciation,
“Friday Wishes”

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“There’s so much you can rejoice in…..”

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The term “rejoice” refers to generating and feeling a warm sense of happiness or celebration when we notice  happiness, compassion, kindness, generosity or a sense of well being in others or ourselves….isn’t that a wonderful word?…and a wonderful kind of celebration!

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Some of my (Kathy’s) very favorite pages…. “rejoicing”

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A few days ago, I wanted to print out a few copies of one of these pages…to take to “Engaging with Life,” a class that nurtures, supports and encourages these ideas.

I was going to print out 2 or 3 color copies of that one page….BUT…the printer started printing out more and more copies of the page!…one after another after another!… and I couldn’t stop the printer!…it just kept printing until there were 15 copies of that one page!  Can you believe that???  The printer seemed to be doing it’s own kind of “rejoicing!”  I was standing there in awe of what had happened!

So, I took those many bright, colorful, happy pages to the class and shared them with others in the class…a shared celebration of a “rejoicing printer!”

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Here’s the page, below,  that just “kept on printing!”… a celebration by the printer!

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“the rejoicing printer”… now dressed up in a bit of joy-ful colors…. as pretty as can be!

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This past weekend, I was rejoicing in the generosity of Gelek Rimpoche, as he was offering his time, energy, kindness and wisdom to those of us at a teaching with him at the Gyuto Center in California. (Gyuto Center is where I’ve heard inspiring teachings by Gyumed Khensur Lobsang Jampa Rinpoche, the author of  The Easy Path, the book that those “rejoice” quotations were actually from!  )   I’m also so thankful to Ven. Donyo for his ongoing welcome and hospitality at Gyuto Center and for offering us all such delicious, unexpected (!!)  lunches on Saturday and Sunday!   It was also so special to  spend time with the friendly and sincere people who shared in that teachings on those 2 days.   Yes, indeed! There really is so much to “rejoice” in!

(PLUS!….an additional great big rejoice… Ven. Jampa, who most of the quotes in this blog “Reflections from a Friend” are from, ( NOT  the author of the book Easy Path) will be visiting California soon…. what a very happy thought that is! )

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This post was originally on Pocket Perspectives, one of Kathy’s other blogs: “How wonderful that you…..there’s so much we can rejoice in”

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5/25/2014 May your heart always be joyful…may your spirit always be true…. forever “young”

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Have you ever noticed how vibrant and joyful some people are…
seeming to embody the potential for one’s outlook to be….
“forever young”

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For all of us…

the body, of course, ages…
impermanence, of course, reigns,
but, may each of our hearts, minds and spirits
continue to be…
forever “young”…

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a birthday wish to all who were born on this day
May 25

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“forever young,”
a twinkle in the eye,
a kind, open, flexible, forgiving and loving heart,
a mind that is curious, explores, investigates,
one that discovers and experiences
“forever young….”
“forever true….”

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may you stay forever “young”…
with a twinkle in the eye, curiosity in the mind,  love in the heart,
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
forever  “young”

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Pete Seger, at 91 years old, speaking the inspiring and aspirational words of “Forever Young”
with his children’s chorus as background…
….forever young…

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Joan Baez….simply lovely…

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“To celebrate her life through how you live your own life….”

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Angeles Arrien, a very special person in many people’s lives, Kathy’s included, passed away unexpectedly on April 24, 2014.  Angeles wrote a number of wonderful, insightful books, including The Second Half of Life, Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom and The Four Fold Way, The Path of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary.

Angeles also offered wonderful workshops, 2 of which Kathy had recently taken and was participating in this entire year, helping people to integrate the wonderful, useful ideas from her books into to our everyday lives.

Jampa wrote these words of encouragement to me, Kathy,  soon after Angeles had died.  I’m sharing these words because I  thought some of the ideas might be helpful to others who might also be adjusting to loss of special people in their own lives.

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A “bridge” to allow more compassion and kindness toward ourselves and others

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We often have very little control over the future, so it’s important to remain in the moment, working on things right now….

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Emotions arise…abide…and dissolve…not any real concern for worry

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An expanded post with additional ideas and  images on Pocket Perspectives:  “The Progression of Feelings..arise, abide, dissolve”

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True to my North Star…but also in this moment, I am safe enough, loved enough, good enough…

a short, 50 second “video”…using some ideas from Rick Hanson’s  Just One Thing Newsletter.

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Shantideva’s Prayer

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Shantideva’s Prayer

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“For as long as space remains,
For as long as sentient beings remain,
Until then may I too remain
To dispel the miseries of the world”

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Shantideva
8th Century Indian Buddhist Scholar
I’ve read that this is a daily prayer of The DalaiLama,
filled with courageous, tender and heartfelt wishes

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HHDalaiLama, Happy New Year message…. “Think….I will be a more sincere, compassionate human being”

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Link to June 30, 2013:  Shantideva’s Prayer
Full size image of  Shantideva’s Prayer

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